Valerie Cole, a prosecutor for Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón (D.), warned last year in an internal memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that their office was fielding “more than twice as many” such cases than normal with a dwindling number of staff. Cole warns that the district attorney’s office will continue to suffer a “loss of reputation” if cases involving such victims are not handled carefully.
The contents of the memo, which the Free Beacon is the first to report, did not leak during last summer’s recall campaign against Gascón. But Cole’s warnings have resonated among frustrated staffers, according to prosecutors in the office who say Gascón has yet to heed the memo’s warning—or acknowledge how his policies enabled the rise in crimes.
“What started as isolated shortages due to mismanagement and a slew of additional responsibilities that stem from new laws and policies has spread to negatively impact most of our operations,” said John McKinney, a Los Angeles deputy district attorney. “There is a culture of chaos among Gascón’s upper management starting with Gascón himself and trickling down to infect what used to be a highly efficient operation.”
[Time for a new recall? Perhaps this might get an even larger base of support for such a petition — and maybe the media will start reporting on Gascón’s disastrous policies more, too. — Ed]
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